“Political analysts say that [Al] Gore, in a tight race against Republican candidate George W. Bush, will have to work to get out the vote, tapping the Democratic base in the unions and churches. ‘He’s got to work it and work it hard, not just on special occasions,’ said Roger Wilkins, a professor who teaches presidential politics at George Mason University.”

Saturday, Sept. 16, CNN International: World News

Recent Warming Trend between Washington and Tehran

Professor Shaul Bakhash, George Mason University: “We have many indications that the Iranians are exploring a dialogue with the U.S., but very tentatively…. I think Iran’s leader wants to control this process of exploring the possibility initially of dialogue, maybe relations, at some time in the future–he wants to control it himself at his own pace.”

Sunday, Sept. 17, ZDWire

Verizon Contract Reflects New Economy

Are the people on the front lines suffering from combat fatigue in the battle for customer service? James T. Bennett, an economics professor at George Mason University in Arlington, Va., and editor of the Journal of Labor Research, doesn’t think so. While all customer service jobs are stressful, those at Verizon pay fairly well and offer generous benefits, Bennett says…. While Bennett agrees that the industry is suffering a labor shortage in the booming economy, he considers that a temporary condition. What really seems to be occurring is a culture clash between the traditional blue-collar union employees and the white-collar techies. ‘It’s going to be a bad mix,’ Bennett says. ‘A lot of these wireless people don’t see themselves as blue-collar.'”

Tuesday, Sept. 19, Wall Street Journal,Asian Wall Street Journal

Now Let’s Catch the Real Spy

By Francis Fukuyama, a professor of public policy at George Mason University.

“Commenting on the meltdown of the government’s case against Los Alamos scientist Wen Ho Lee, President Clinton said he was ‘very troubled’ by the behavior of government prosecutors and suggested he will be talking to Attorney General Janet Reno soon about her department’s handling of the case. This takes, as his wife Hillary has learned to say, a lot of ‘chutzpah,’ reminding one of the French official Reynaud in the film Casablanca who professed to be ‘shocked, shocked!’ to learn that gambling was going on at the nightclub as he was being handed his winnings. The Justice Department has had a history of lurching between lackadaisical enforcement of security issues and ‘police state’ overreaction, something the president should have intervened to fix long ago….”

Wednesday, Sept. 20, Augusta Chronicle

Computer Patches Attempt to Plug Holes in Virus Wars

“The [Microsoft] patch also prevents users from opening any attachments written in Visual Basic Script, a popular computer language for the latest wave of virus writers. ‘But the Melissa virus took advantage of the same weaknesses 15 months ago, and Microsoft never released a patch until now, when it took another virus scare to do it,’ said Sushil Jajodia, a professor specializing in computer security at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.”

“Why did the gas siege of Britain catch everyone involved unawares? The best explanation for both the delay and the rage comes from a school of thought known as public choice theory. James Buchanan of George Mason University, public choice’s greatest scholar, says that a government–left or right–is just like any other player in the market. It competes to survive, and will even hide its size to lull citizens into accepting its growth.”